Welcome also
I agree about the hosting...its just a few dollars to do hosting. I know some LL's and Directories will not list sites on Free Hosting providers due (we are one of them) which is outlines the reasons on our Submission Guidelines page.
You've certainly have a good list of design skills which will come in handy for your sites. You mentioned $200 a month income from this potential project of yours; that is possible and even more. One thing that could happen is that once things get going, you fall into the world of (hey, this is cool, I wanna do more !!) addiction..lol. Well, perhaps not an addiction, but once you get things going, you start to plan more until the point you realize that its turning into a full-time goal. REally depends on how far and how much you "really" want to do with it.
Start with free gallery sites, perhaps get into a toplist script (I'd suggest JMBSoft.com autorank script) to try that out. If you are really into it and feel you want to go bigger with something, make the attempt to try a Link List or Link Directory. However, for these ones, you can definitely do well with it if you manage it as a business, but they do demand a lot of work on a regular basis.
There are many other options out there for you, its a big industry.